Tracey,
You raise a very interesting question. I like you are very interested in
old cemeteries but not for the flowers that grow there. However I get very
upset when I see the destruction of the roses and peonies and vinca ground
cover. I have begged mowers not to destroy the plants but they pay me no
mind. I would like to know where the Point Isabel cemetery is you are
talking about. Is it the one in Grant County, Ind.? There are many
beautiful bushes there.
Sheila D. Watson
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Rollison <drolliso(a)indy.net>
To: INPCRP-L(a)rootsweb.com <INPCRP-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Date: Saturday, February 27, 1999 2:33 PM
Subject: [INPCRP-L] Another aspect of cemetary conservation--please help!
Hello,
I have been interested in cemetary conservation for years. I did not
know about the legal problems we currently have, though. Now that I
know about it I am, like most people, outraged.
I'd like to offer my services as a plant conservationist. Many
varieties of old roses, peonies and other long-lived plants exsist
anymore only in neglected cemataries and abandoned homes. I am a little
afraid that when this movement takes off, one of the first things
restorationists might do is tear up these old plants, perhaps destroying
the only living cultivar of something. Hundreds of varieties of roses
thought long extinct have been restored to horticultural museums and
commerce by people like me. I currently have 6 I've rescued that I'm
attempting to identify through old catalogue and book descriptions and
comparing to my already known 33 varieties of old roses. If we've got
200-year-old varieties in our cemetaries they're worth saving, and could
provide important cultural clues for historians. I know of a bush of
Apothecary Rose in the Point Isabel Cemetary on a 150-year-old grave.
The rose dates from the middle ages.
If you could please give my name to people who are about to start
restoring a cemetary, or have them contact me, I would greatly
appreciate it. I know several people in central Indiana who are rose
and plant conservationists, and have contact with people all over the
state and the country who do the same thing. If the plant is going to
be dug up anyway and discarded we would love to have the chance to save
it and identify it.
Thank you for you time, and hoping to hear from you!
Tracey Rollison
4703 Topeka Trail
Indianapolis, IN 46241
317-856-7532
http://www.indy.net/~drolliso and click on roses link for information
on rose conservation.
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Quote from William Gladstone (1809-1897), three-time Prime Minister of
England
and Victorian contemporary of Benjamin Disraeli:
"Show me the manner in which a nation or community
cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical
exactness the tender mercies of its people, their
respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty
to high ideals."